Method for designing denture, method for producing denture and positioning means

ABSTRACT

A method for designing dentures according to which artificial teeth can be easily and accurately attached to a denture base, which is designed and shaped by CAD/CAM, when the artificial teeth are arranged on the denture base is provided. The method for designing a denture ( 10 ) on a computer based on data on an intraoral shape comprises: creating data on a shape of a denture base ( 20 ) based on the intraoral shape (S 22 ); creating data on a position of an artificial tooth ( 30 ) to be arranged on the denture base (S 23 ); and creating data on a shape of an occlusal guide ( 40 ) that is tabular and has a recess part corresponding to a shape of the arranged artificial tooth in an occlusal surface side (S 24 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to dentures and, in particular, a methodfor designing and producing dentures, and a positioning means used whendentures are produced.

BACKGROUND ART

One well-known method for making dentures is a lost wax technique.According to this technique, dentures can be obtained through thefollowing steps: that is, first, an impression of a patient's intraoralshape is taken using an impression material (so-called impressiontaking). Plaster is poured to the impression and solidified, to make aplaster cast.

Next, the height of dentures of the upper and lower jaws is securedusing wax on the plaster cast, and artificial teeth are embedded in thewax, to be wax dentures (so called arrangement of artificial teeth).Then, these wax dentures are embedded in plaster or the like to besolidified. After a portion where the wax flows out is formed in the waxdentures, the wax is melt and washed away by hot water or the like.Whereby, only the arranged artificial teeth remain, and a cavity isformed at the portion where the wax existed. Then, resin or the like ispoured to (packed into) the cavity, to be cured. Dentures can beobtained by breaking and removing the plaster.

As described above, the lost wax technique includes a lot of steps, andtakes a long time to be completed. In addition, it is said that dentaltechnicians have to be skilled if making dentures according to thistechnique.

In contrast, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose techniques of makingdental prostheses such as dentures using CAD/CAM. That is, informationon designing and producing dental prostheses is treated as data usingCAD/CAM. Finally, dental prostheses can be obtained by cutting out usingan NC machine tool based on the data.

According to this, dental prostheses can be made with less steps thanthe lost wax technique for a shorter time than before.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: JP H9-206320A

Patent Literature 2: JP 2002-224143A

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, when dentures are made using CAD/CAM, it is necessary that: adenture base is cut out from a harder resin material than wax, to bemade, and artificial teeth made from ceramics, resin, or the like arefit into recesses that are shaped on the hard denture base forartificial teeth fitted thereinto, to be arranged, and are fixed withadhesive. Doing so, artificial teeth get out of the designed positionwhen the artificial teeth are actually arranged because the recesses forfitting the artificial teeth thereinto have to be shaped larger than theartificial teeth, which might cause the entire occlusal relationshipdesigned by CAD to suffer. Any technique of attaching artificial teetheasily and accurately is necessary because positioning of artificialteeth is important as described above.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for designingdentures according to which artificial teeth can be easily andaccurately attached to a denture base, which is designed and shaped byCAD/CAM, when the artificial teeth are arranged on the denture base. Thepresent invention also provides a method for producing dentures, and apositioning means used when dentures are produced.

Solution to Problem

The present invention will be described below. Here, reference signsattached to the description and drawings are provided together inparentheses for easy understanding. However, the present invention isnot limited thereto.

The invention of claim 1 is a method for designing a denture (10) on acomputer based on data on an intraoral shape (S20), the methodcomprising: creating data on a shape of a denture base (20) based on theintraoral shape (S22); creating data on a position of an artificialtooth (30) to be arranged on the denture base (S23); and creating dataon a shape of an occlusal guide (40) that is tabular and has a recesspart corresponding to a position of the arranged artificial tooth in anocclusal surface side (S24).

The invention of claim 2 comprises: creating data on a positioning means(50, 60, 70) to fix positions of the denture base (20) and the occlusalguide (40) (S25) in the method (S20) according to claim 1.

The invention of claim 3 is a method for producing a denture (110) (S1),the method comprising: designing the denture (10) according to themethod of claim 1 (S20); producing a denture base (120), an artificialtooth (130) and, an occlusal guide (140) based on said designing (S31);arranging the produced artificial tooth on the produced occlusal guide(S32); and arranging the artificial tooth, which is arranged on theocclusal guide, on the denture base (S33).

The invention of claim 4 is a method for producing a denture (110) (S1),the method comprising: designing the denture (10) according to themethod of claim 2 (S20); producing a denture base (120), an artificialtooth (130), an occlusal guide (140), and a positioning means (150, 160,170) based on said designing; arranging the produced artificial tooth onthe produced occlusal guide (S32); and arranging the artificial tooth,which is arranged on the occlusal guide, on the denture base (S33),wherein in said arranging the artificial tooth on the denture base, apositional relationship between the denture base and the occlusal guideis determined by the positioning means.

The invention of claim 5 is a positioning means (150) that is used whena denture (110) is produced, wherein the positioning means is a means tocouple a denture base (120) to an occlusal guide (140) that has a recesspart corresponding to a position of an artificial tooth (130) in anocclusal surface side.

The invention of claim 6 is a positioning means (160) that is used whena denture (110) is produced, the positioning means comprising: a denturebase keeping member that keeps a posture of a denture base; and acoupling member that is included in an occlusal guide (140) having arecess part corresponding to a position of an artificial tooth (130) inan occlusal surface side, and that is coupled to the denture basekeeping member.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, artificial teeth can be easily andaccurately attached to a denture base that is designed and shaped byCAD/CAM.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for producing dentures S1;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a step of designing dentures S20;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a step of producing dentures S30;

FIG. 4 is an external view of a denture base 20:

FIG. 5A is an external view of artificial teeth 30, and FIG. 5B is across-sectional view of an artificial tooth 30:

FIG. 6 is an external view of a denture 10;

FIG. 7A is an explanatory perspective view of an occlusal guide 40, andFIG. 7B is an explanatory schematic view of the occlusal guide 40;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the occlusal guide 40;

FIG. 9A is an explanatory view of a positioning means 50, and FIG. 9Bshows the positioning means 50 separating:

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a positioning means 60;

FIG. 11 shows the positioning means 60 combining:

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of a positioning means 70:

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of arranging artificial teeth on anocclusal guide S32;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of arranging artificial teeth on denturebases S33;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of arranging artificial teeth on denturebases S33; and

FIG. 16 is an explanatory view of arranging artificial teeth on denturebases S33.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be described below as shown in the drawings.It is noted that the present invention is not restricted to anyembodiments of the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of one embodiment, and is a flowchart of amethod for producing dentures S1. As is seen from this, the method forproducing dentures S1 includes digitalizing an intraoral shape S10,designing dentures S20, and producing dentures S30. Hereinafter thesesteps will be described.

In digitalizing an intraoral shape S10, three-dimensional data of anintraoral shape is obtained indirectly from an obtained impression ordirectly from the inside of an oral cavity. A method ofthree-dimensional metrology on a plaster cast that is obtained throughimpression taking according to a known method can be used for obtainingthe three-dimensional data from the impression. An intraoral threedimensional scanner can be used for obtaining the three-dimensional datadirectly from the inside of an oral cavity.

From this, the intraoral shape including information on a shape of apatient's mucosae is digitized. At this time, for example, data onocclusion can be obtained by three-dimensional metrology on impressionsof upper and lower jaws combined in the same way as a position ofpatient's jaws.

In designing dentures S20, a shape of dentures are designed anddetermined on a computer based on the data obtained in digitalizing anintraoral shape S10. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of designing dentures S20. Asis seen from this, designing dentures S20 includes obtaining intraoraldata S21, designing denture bases S22, designing arrangement ofartificial teeth S23, designing an occlusal guide S24, and designing apositioning means S25.

It is noted that all of dentures 10, denture bases 20, artificial teeth30, an occlusal guide 40 and positioning means 50, 60 and 70 to bedescribed in this designing dentures S20 mean embodiments formed on acomputer as data.

Obtaining intraoral data S21 is a step of obtaining the information onthe intraoral shape, which was digitalized in digitalizing an intraoralshape S10, and taking the information in a design device (computer).This taking is stored in a memory in the computer via a receiving meansthat the computer includes.

In designing denture bases S22, the information obtained in obtainingintraoral data S21 is modified if necessary, to design shapes of thedenture bases 20. FIG. 4 schematically shows the denture base 20 in theupper jaw side. A denture base in the lower jaw side can be consideredto have the same basic structure as in the upper jaw side although thereis difference between upper and lower denture bases. Either one of them,or both of them is/are produced.

Denture bases are members that have functions of keeping artificialteeth at predetermined positions, and stably attaching denturesthemselves onto oral mucosae. Thus, as is seen from FIG. 4, the denturebase 20 finally has an embodiment of including a ridge part 21 thatrises like a ridge as a portion where the artificial teeth 30 arearranged, and being provided with recess parts 22 on the top portion ofthe ridge part 21 where one end of each artificial tooth 30 is inserted,to fix the artificial teeth 30. Positions and shapes of the recess parts22 are determined by the artificial teeth 30 to be arranged. Thus, anembodiment of the recess parts 22 are determined after designingarrangement of artificial teeth S23.

A known method can be used for designing the denture bases 20 describedabove.

In designing arrangement of artificial teeth S23, the artificial teeth30 are arranged according to designing denture bases S22. Information onartificial teeth is called from a database of the computer, and theartificial teeth 30 are arranged on the denture bases 20. That is, basedon the information taken so far, data on artificial teeth that matchesdental arches is called from the database stored in the memory of thecomputer. This data is roughly arranged at a position on the ridge part21 of each denture base 20, and then, the position is finely adjusted.After the position is fixed by the fine adjustment, the recess parts 22described above are formed in the denture bases 20 (see FIG. 4). At thistime, each recess part 22 has a little larger shape than an externalform of each artificial tooth 30 in order for the artificial teeth 30 tobe easily inserted into the recess parts 22.

The artificial teeth 30 function instead of natural teeth. Theartificial teeth 30 are artificial teeth made by being copied fromnatural teeth. As shown in FIG. 5A, a plurality of artificial teeth 30are arranged like natural teeth as necessary. In FIG. 5A, the top sideof the sheet is the occlusal surface side, the bottom side of the sheetis the denture base 20 side, and the transverse direction of the sheetis an arrangement direction. FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of theartificial tooth 30 taken along the line Vb-Vb in FIG. 5A. This is across-section in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction.As seen from FIGS. 5A and 5B, undercut parts 31 are provided for sidefaces that are in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction,at an end part of each artificial tooth 30 in the denture base 20 side.Whereby, the artificial teeth 30 are more firmly fixed to the denturebases 20.

The artificial teeth 30 are arranged on the denture base 20, to form thedenture 10 as shown in FIG. 6. That is, the artificial teeth 30 arearranged on the recess parts 22 of the denture base 20, to form thedenture 10.

In designing an occlusal guide S24, the occlusal guide 40 that isarranged between the occlusal surfaces of upper and lower rows of teethis designed. The occlusal guide 40 is a tabular member into whichocclusal relationship between the occlusal surfaces of artificial teeth(or artificial and natural teeth) of the upper and lower jaws is copied.FIGS. 7A to 8 are explanatory schematic views. FIG. 7A is an obliquelyschematic view of a scene where the occlusal guide 40 is arrangedbetween the dentures 10 of upper and lower jaws, and FIG. 7B is a frontschematic view of this scene. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of theocclusal guide 40.

As is seen from FIGS. 7A, 7B and 8, the occlusal guide 40 is an arcuateplate along rows of teeth. The occlusal surfaces of upper and lower rowsof teeth are copied into both sides of the occlusal guide 40. Therefore,the occlusal guide 40 includes information on the positionalrelationship between upper and lower rows of teeth under their occludingstate. That is, as seen from FIG. 8, recess parts 41 that correspond tothe shapes of the artificial teeth 30 in the occlusal surface sides areformed on the occlusal guide 40.

The thickness of the occlusal guide 40 is not restricted. The occlusalguide 40 is preferably structured so that artificial teeth 130 can beinserted into and kept in recess parts 141 of an occlusal guide 140 whenthe actual occlusal guide 140 is produced based on the data of theocclusal guide 40 as described later.

In designing a positioning means S25, a positioning means for keepingthe positional relationship between the denture bases 20, the artificialteeth 30 and the occlusal guide 40 is designed. Whereby, arrangement ofthe artificial teeth 130, including their occluding state, can beperformed accurately (as designed) when the artificial teeth 130 arearranged on the denture bases 120, which are actually produced, asdescribed below.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are explanatory views of the positioning means 50according to the first embodiment. FIGS. 9A and 9B are views taken inthe same direction as FIG. 7B. FIG. 9A shows a posture when thepositioning means 50 is combined, and FIG. 9B shows a posture when thepositioning means 50 is separated.

The positioning means 50 is configured by having denture base connectionmembers 51, an occlusal guide connection member 52, and a couplingmember 53 as seen from FIGS. 9A and 9B. Here, the denture baseconnection members 51 are members to detachably connect to the denturebases 20, and the occlusal guide connection member 52 is a member todetachably connect to the occlusal guide 40. The coupling member 53 is amember to couple the denture base connection members 51 to the occlusalguide connection member 52. In this embodiment, a joint part 52 a isprovided so that connection and separation can be performed at some partof the coupling means 53.

A protrusion 50 a and a hole 50 b corresponding thereto are provided foreach connection part of the denture base connection members 51 and thedenture bases 20, connection part of the occlusal guide connection part52 and the occlusal guide 40, and joint part 52 a, which prevents theirpositions when attached from getting out.

A shape of the positioning means 50 as described above is designed sothat the denture bases 20 and the artificial teeth 30 are arranged, toenable the patient's occluding state to be reproduced.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory views of a positioning means 60according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 shows a posture where thepositioning means 60 is separated, and FIG. 11 shows a posture where thepositioning means 60 is combined.

The positioning means 60 is configured by having a denture base keepingmember 61, an occlusal guide connection member 62, and coupling members63 as seen from FIGS. 10 and 11.

Here, the denture base keeping member 61 is a member to keep the denturebase 20 in a predetermined posture. It is noted that FIGS. 10 and 11 areexplanatory views of the positioning means 60. Thus, illustration of thekept denture base 20 is omitted for easy understanding. As seen fromFIGS. 10 and 11, a recess part 61 a to keep the denture base 20 isprovided for the denture base keeping member 61, and is structured so asto keep the denture base 20 such that the denture base 20 does not moveor rotate.

The occlusal guide connection member 62 is a portion to integrallyconnect to the occlusal guide 40. In this embodiment, the occlusal guideconnection member 62 is a crosslike member, and the coupling members 63are formed at the tips thereof.

The coupling members 63 are members to couple the denture base keepingmember 61 to the occlusal guide connection member 62. In thisembodiment, the coupling members 63 are configured by three protrusions63 a provided for the tips of the occlusal guide connection member 62,and grooves 63 b into which the protrusions 63 a are inserted, and whichare provided for the denture base keeping member 61.

According to such a positioning means 60, the denture base 20 isarranged inside the recess part 61 a of the denture base keeping member61. In contrast to this, the protrusions 63 a are inserted into theinside of the grooves 63 b as show in FIG. 11, to position the occlusalguide 40 and the denture base 20.

Such a positioning means 60 also functions as well as the positioningmeans 50, which makes it possible to accurately realize the designedarrangement of artificial teeth.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of a positioning means 70 according tothe third embodiment. The positioning means 70 is an example ofproviding a positioning means for at least one tooth out of a group ofrows of artificial teeth, and for the recess part 22 of the denture base20 where this tooth is inserted. In the example of FIG. 12, oneprismatic protrusion 70 a that is one component of the positioning means70 is arranged on the surface of the artificial tooth 30 which isopposite to the bottom surface of the recess part 22, and a recess 70 bthat has a shape corresponding to the protrusion 70 a is provided forthe bottom surface of the recess part 22 at a position corresponding tothe protrusion 70 a. Whereby, the artificial tooth 30 for which thepositioning means 70 is provided can be arranged on the recess part 22of the denture base 20 (a recess part where the positioning means 70 isprovided) only at the designed position in the designed direction.Therefore, other ordinary artificial teeth, positional relationship ofwhich is determined by the occlusal guide, can be arranged on the recessparts 22 of the denture base 30 at the right positions in the rightdirection, following the artificial tooth 30 for which the positioningmeans 70 is provided.

According to such a positioning means 70, no postprocessing (forexample, removing the positioning means) is necessary because thepositioning means 70 is hidden after dentures as an end product ismanufactured.

Designing dentures S20 is ended after going through the above describedsteps.

Returning to FIG. 1, designing dentures S30 will be described. FIG. 3 isa flowchart of producing dentures S30.

Producing dentures S30 is a step of actually producing the componentsbased on the data of the components designed in designing dentures S20,and combining them to produce dentures of high accuracy. Here, anexample using the positioning means 50 will be described. As is seenfrom FIG. 3, producing dentures S30 includes producing components S31,arranging artificial teeth on an occlusal guide S32, arrangingartificial teeth on denture bases S33, and removing an occlusal guideand a positioning means S34.

In producing components S31, the data on the shapes of the denture bases20, the shapes of the artificial teeth 30, the shape of the occlusalguide 40, and the shape of the positioning means 50, which are designedin designing dentures S20, are individually extracted, the extracteddata is output to a machine tool as command data, the machine toolreceives processing data, and the shapes are cutting out with themachine tool. This step itself can be performed according to a knownmethod, including so-called processing by CAM.

Whereby, the actual denture bases 120 are produced using the denturebases 20 as data, the actual artificial teeth 130 are produced using theartificial teeth 30 as data, the actual occlusal guide 140 is producedusing the occlusal guide 40 as data, and the actual positioning means150 is produced using the positioning means 50 as data (the positioningmeans 160 and the positioning means 170 (which are not shown) areproduced in the case of using the positioning means 60 and thepositioning means 70, respectively).

In arranging artificial teeth on an occlusal guide S32, the artificialteeth 130 in the occlusal surface sides are inserted into the occlusalguide 140, to be arranged. FIG. 13 schematically shows the arrangement.Proper arrangement can be performed as shown in FIG. 13 because therecess parts 141 are formed on the occlusal guide 140 based on theocclusal surfaces of the artificial teeth 130 and thus, the shapesthereof match the artificial teeth 130. The occlusal guide 140 and theartificial teeth 130 may be fixed with the minimum amount of adhesive orthe like of low adhesion to make them not get out of each other ifnecessary.

Whereby, the positional relationship between the artificial teeth 130including the occlusion becomes proper, and the arrangement of highaccuracy for the design can be obtained. As described later, the wholerows of the artificial teeth 130 can be arranged with the occlusal guideat the same time, but not arranged one by one. Thus, artificial teethcan be efficiently arranged as the accuracy is kept.

In arranging artificial teeth on denture bases S33, the artificial teeth130 arranged on the occlusal guide 140 are fixed to the denture bases120. In this embodiment, for example, S33 is specifically carried out asfollows. FIGS. 14 to 16 shows explanatory views.

First, as shown in FIG. 14, resin 125 as adhesive is placed on therecess parts 122 of the denture bases 120. Common resin that is usedwhen an artificial tooth is fixed to a denture base can be used as thisresin.

Next, in this example, the artificial teeth 130 are arranged on thedenture base 120 in the upper jaw side in advance. At this time, asshown in FIG. 15, all of the artificial teeth 130 arranged on theocclusal guide 140 are pushed onto the denture base 120 in the upper jawside, and each artificial tooth 130 is inserted into the recess part 122corresponding thereto. At this time, the denture base connection part151 of the positioning means 150 is coupled to the denture base 120, andthe occlusal guide connection part 152 is coupled to the occlusal guide140. The denture base connection part 151 and the occlusal guideconnection part 152 are coupled by the coupling part 153.

After that, the artificial teeth 130 are arranged on the denture base120 in the lower jaw side. At this time, as shown in FIG. 16, all of theartificial teeth 130 arranged on the occlusal guide 140 are pushed ontothe denture base 120 in the lower jaw side, and each artificial tooth130 is inserted into the recess part 122 corresponding thereto. At thistime, the denture base connection parts 151 of the positioning means 150are coupled to the denture base 120, and the occlusal guide connectionpart 152 is coupled to the occlusal guide 140. The denture baseconnection parts 151 and the occlusal guide connection part 152 arecoupled by the coupling part 153.

As described above, the positional relationship between a plurality ofthe artificial teeth 130, the positions of the artificial teeth 130 onthe denture bases 120, and the occlusal relationship between the upperand lower jaws are accurately realized by the occlusal guide 140 and thepositioning means 150 according to the design.

At last, as shown in FIG. 3, in removing an occlusal guide and apositioning means S34, the occlusal guide 140 and the positioning means150 are removed, to obtain the dentures 110.

When the positioning means 160 or 170 is used, dentures can be obtainedas well like the above example by combining the positioning means 160 or170 as described above concerning the positioning means 60 and 70. Whenthe positioning means 170 is used, the positioning means 170 does notneed to be removed.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   10 denture (data)    -   20 denture base (data)    -   30 artificial tooth (data)    -   40 occlusal guide (data)    -   50, 60, 70 positioning means (data)    -   110 denture    -   120 denture base    -   130 artificial tooth    -   140 occlusal guide    -   150, 160, 170 positioning means

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for designing a denture on a computerbased on data on an intraoral shape, the method comprising: creatingdata on a shape of a denture base based on the intraoral shape; creatingdata on a position of an artificial tooth to be arranged on the denturebase; and creating data on a shape of an occlusal guide that is tabularand has a recess part corresponding to a shape of the arrangedartificial tooth in an occlusal surface side.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising: creating data on a positioning means to fixpositions of the denture base and the occlusal guide.
 3. A method forproducing a denture, the method comprising: designing the dentureaccording to the method of claim 1; producing a denture base, anartificial tooth and, an occlusal guide based on said designing;arranging the produced artificial tooth on the produced occlusal guide;and arranging the artificial tooth, which is arranged on the occlusalguide, on the denture base.
 4. A method for producing a denture, themethod comprising: designing the denture according to the method ofclaim 2; producing a denture base, an artificial tooth, an occlusalguide, and a positioning means based on said designing; arranging theproduced artificial tooth on the produced occlusal guide; and arrangingthe artificial tooth, which is arranged on the occlusal guide, on thedenture base, wherein in said arranging the artificial tooth on thedenture base, a positional relationship between the denture base and theocclusal guide is determined by the positioning means.
 5. A positioningmeans that is used when a denture is produced, wherein the positioningmeans is a means to couple a denture base to a occlusal guide that has arecess part corresponding to a position of an artificial tooth in anocclusal surface side.
 6. A positioning means that is used when adenture is produced, the positioning means comprising: a denture basekeeping member that keeps a posture of a denture base; and a couplingmember that is included in an occlusal guide having a recess partcorresponding to a position of an artificial tooth in an occlusalsurface side, and that is coupled to the denture base keeping member.